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Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Book Review: 'The Ghost Bride' by Yangsze Choo

All my book reviews seem to be for scary stories. Anyone
wanna give me something a little lighter? Nah, I don’t mind really – especially
since both of the books I’ve reviewed so far have been excellent. You may
remember my previous post about Yangsze
Choo’s The Ghost Bride. Hot Key Books, the publishers, were kind enough to
send me a reviewer’s copy of the text so I ended up being able to read it
sooner than I’d anticipated. The book will be out on August 1st and you can buy
it here.

The story begins with Li-Lan’s father asking her if she
would like to be a ghost bride – that is, asking her if she would like to marry
the spirit of the late son of the wealthy Lim family. To those who aren’t superstitious, this might not seem like the worst option, especially because her father's debt
leaves Li Lan’s prospects unpromising – marrying the spirit of Lim Tiang Chin
would allow Li Lan to live, completely provided for, as a widow in the Lim
household. That said, without superstition, there’d be no story and, soon
after the proposal is made, the sinister Lim Tiang Chin begins haunting Li
Lan’s dreams. Li Lan is pulled into the after world and must find her way
out before she ends up trapped there forever.

Choo plays with the idea of sanctuary to create a constantly eerie atmosphere: by
invading even her dreams, Lim Tiang Ching takes away the little personal space
Li Lan has left. In this story full of tradition and superstition anything can
happen – there is no clear line between what is ‘real’ and what is ‘supernatural’
and so debt collectors, marriage suitors, and hell demons are all feared at
once. As Li Lan travels through the after world, there is a constant sense of foreboding:
Choo’s silky prose wraps beautiful details around you, leaving you enthralled
by her world, but also intensely aware that it could all be taken away in a
second. After all, as Li Lan’s elderly cook warns her: ‘ ‘There are many evil
things abroad, many ghosts who mean harm to the living and will try to trick
you.’ ’[i]

Many of the reviews I have read for this book praise how
transporting and exotic the story is. Given my obsession with fairy and folk
tales, though, what really interested me as a reader was not the exoticism of
the story, but the familiarity of it. There is something extremely reassuring,
and also exciting, about seeing the same character tropes and story shapes appearing
in tales from all over the world, and from throughout history. To me, it shows
that, as humans, we all usually have the same fundamental needs and desires - no
matter where or when we are from. Li Lan, who has lost her mother to smallpox
and her father to an opium addiction, finds surrogate parent-figures in the
family servants; she is seduced by tricksters; and she must make the most
crucial decision of all: between behaving responsibly and following her heart.

The Ghost Bride
isn’t like any other book I’ve read. This could be because I don’t often read historical
fiction, but I suspect it’s more because it explores fresh subject matter. You
should definitely check it out.

If you are an author or publisher and would like me to
review your book, please get in touch via Twitter or leave a comment below.

[i]
Quote taken from advance copy and may appear differently in or be omitted from
final text.